Half-term holidaying at home

We had been considering going away for half-term. Actually, we went through a number of possibilities, from me and Rosemary going off to Barcelona or Valencia for a few days, to us all going to Menorca. In the end, though, we decided that a holiday at home, but a proper one, would be best. It seemed quite possible that we could end up stuck in some hotel room or holiday apartment, watching endless DVDs while we waited for the rain to stop long enough to go and play on the swings.

Usually, in the school holidays, my mum looks after both the girls while we work, and we’ll try to fit in one or two family day trips (depending on the length of the holiday). And during term-time there are lots of activities and play dates all week long and at the weekend. The only day we don’t have to be out of the house by 8.30 is Sunday, but we usually still go the leisure centre for a family swim – in the afternoon, which means fitting in doing things with the girls can be a bit difficult. Sometimes, we do revert to calling up iPlayer on the netbook and letting them watch an hour or so of CBeebies programmes. So, a whole week and a bit (there are two inset days at the start of next week, as well) to relax and do things together at leisure seemed like a good idea. Of course, it was Chris’s idea – I wanted to do the planes and hotels thing and was a little dubious at first.

But he was right. It has been a wonderful week. We’ve done lots of things that the girls love doing but don’t get to do enough (and things they’ve wanted to do, but have yet to try), like swimming and going to Go Bananas (soft play centre). We’ve been to the park, for a walking adventure, for a meal out and for hot chocolate in Costa. We’ve watched films, played with play dough, and built dens. We’ve had lots and lots of lazy mornings, even managing to spend one whole day in our pyjamas (except for Chris, who drew the short straw and had to go to the shop).

Rosemary has done loads of writing and drawing. Eleanor and Rosemary have played together a lot – playing doctors, schools, hide and seek, and sleeping (beds appear all over the ground floor, in front of the front door, behind the fridge, under the table). They’ve made play dough cakes and ‘cupcakes’ out of banana, melted chocolate and squirty cream. And, yes, there’s also been a fair bit of CBeebies watched – Justin’s House and Octonauts have been the most popular.

We had been planning to take the week off work completely, too, and to have relaxing evenings together, like we might do on ‘proper’ holiday – maybe answer a few emails and send some things out to freelancers. However, there was some unexpected work that came through and had to be done for Friday. So, we lost most of our evenings, but we did manage to get the work done without impacting on the girls’ half-term – though it did involve two past-midnight nights for me and a couple of 5am nights for Chris. The bonus is that next week should be quite quiet workwise, and we should get to have some evenings to relax and not be completely wiped out from running around with children all day!

It has definitely been a great success, and I would recommend it, especially if you normally struggle to find enough quality time with your children. And it’s not over yet. Tomorrow we’re off to Cheltenham to do a bit of shopping, have ice-cream sundaes and go visit my oldest friend and her husband and daughter for lunch. Sunday’s my birthday and there will be tea and cake, a trip to the cinema (for me and my sister) and dinner out with Chris (while my sister babysits) (OK, yes, Sunday’s going to mostly be about me). Monday we don’t have big plans, but I think it might well be another quiet day. And Tuesday, Eleanor starts nursery school and Rosemary is very excited that she’ll get to walk her there and pick her up (it’s the nursery school Rosemary used to go to), because she has an inset day.

I’m sure Chris and I will be ready to sit back down at our desks on Wednesday, but we’ll also miss the fun we’ve had with the girls. We might not be able to manage to take every school holiday off work, but I think we’ll aim to take a few more days off to just be together at home and in Stroud, rather than only for the big trips to zoos and aquariums and science centres.

What did you do at half-term? Have you enjoyed the extra time with the children or have they been driving you nuts? Are you looking forward to the return to school, or investigating the possibilities of home-education?